Reconfigurable optical router

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention describe apparatuses, optical systems, and methods for utilizing a dynamically reconfigurable optical transmitter. A laser array outputs a plurality of laser signals (which may further be modulated based on electrical signals), each of the plurality of laser signals having a wavelength, wherein the wavelength of each of the plurality of laser signals is tunable based on other electrical signals. An optical router receives the plurality of (modulated) laser signals at input ports and outputs the plurality of received (modulated) laser signals to one or more output ports based on the tuned wavelength of each of the plurality of received laser signals. This reconfigurable transmitter enables dynamic bandwidth allocation for multiple destinations via the tuning of the laser wavelengths.

What is claimed: 
     
       1. A transmitter comprising:
 a laser array to output a plurality of optical fields, each of the plurality of optical fields having a wavelength tuned based on an associated electrical signal; 
 an optical router having a plurality of input ports and a configurable number of output ports, each input port to receive an optical field of the plurality of optical fields, each output port to receive one or more of the plurality of optical fields by changing a variable bandwidth of the output port to output additional wavelengths of additional optical fields from the plurality of input ports; and 
 a controller coupled to the optical router, the controller configured to change the number of output ports by changing the variable bandwidth of one or more of the output ports, the changed number of output ports based on the tuned wavelengths of the plurality of optical fields received by the plurality of input ports. 
 
     
     
       2. The transmitter of  claim 1 , wherein, in response to detecting that each of the plurality of received optical fields have a substantially same wavelength, the number of output ports of the optical router is configured such that each of the received optical fields is output to a different output port from the output ports. 
     
     
       3. The transmitter of  claim 1 , wherein, in response to detecting that each of the plurality of received optical fields has a substantially different wavelength, the number of output ports of the optical router is configured to output each of the received optical fields to a single output port of the output ports. 
     
     
       4. The transmitter of  claim 1 , wherein the variable bandwidth of each output port is configurable to output at least two of the optical fields having different wavelengths. 
     
     
       5. The transmitter of  claim 4 , wherein each input port comprises an input ring resonator, wherein each output port comprises a plurality of output ring resonators, and wherein the variable bandwidth of each output port is adjustable by changing ring coupling of the plurality of output ring resonators to receive different bandwidths of light. 
     
     
       6. The transmitter of  claim 1 , wherein, in response to detecting that two or more of the plurality of received optical fields have a substantially same first wavelength and two or more of the received optical fields have a substantially same second wavelength, the output ports of the optical router are configured to output the received optical fields in sets, wherein each of the sets combines two or more of the received optical fields having different wavelengths, and wherein each of the sets is output to a different output port. 
     
     
       7. The transmitter of  claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of optical fields to be received at the plurality of input ports of the optical router is modulated by an optical modulator based on a set of one or more electrical signals. 
     
     
       8. The transmitter of  claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of optical fields is input to a different input port of the plurality of input ports. 
     
     
       9. The transmitter of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a temperature sensor to detect a temperature of the optical router and send data related to the detected temperature of the optical router to the laser array, the laser array to tune wavelengths of the plurality of optical fields based on the data related to the temperature of the optical router. 
 
     
     
       10. The transmitter of  claim 1 , wherein the optical router comprises a plurality of Mach Zehnder interferometers. 
     
     
       11. The transmitter of  claim 10 , the optical router to further:
 separately tune a phase of each of the plurality of received optical fields; and 
 output, using the plurality of Mach Zehnder interferometers, the plurality of received optical fields to one or more of the output ports based further on the phase of each of the optical fields. 
 
     
     
       12. The transmitter of  claim 10 , the optical router to further tune a phase of the plurality of received optical fields to compensate for temperature changes of the optical router. 
     
     
       13. The transmitter of  claim 1 , wherein the optical router further comprises a bus waveguide, and further wherein:
 each of the input ports comprises an input waveguide coupled with the bus waveguide via an input ring resonator; 
 each of the output ports comprises an output waveguide coupled with the bus waveguide via a plurality of output ring resonators, wherein each of the plurality of output ring resonators corresponds to a different wavelength of optical field; and 
 the pluralities of output ring resonators are tunable to output the plurality of received optical fields at the output ports based on the associated electrical signal for tuning one or more wavelengths of the optical fields and to change a wavelength of an optical field output at their respective output port. 
 
     
     
       14. The transmitter of  claim 13 , wherein a coupling of one of the pluralities of output ring resonators and the bus waveguide is tunable to output a part of one of the plurality of received optical fields to allow signal to be output to multiple of the output ports. 
     
     
       15. The transmitter of  claim 7 , wherein the modulator, the plurality of input ports and the output ports of the optical router comprise waveguides formed from overlapping regions of a silicon semiconductor material and a III-V semiconductor material. 
     
     
       16. The transmitter of  claim 1 , wherein a quantity of output ports of the optical router exceeds a number of optical fields output by the laser array. 
     
     
       17. A method of routing optical fields of a transmitter, the method comprising:
 generating, via a laser array of the transmitter, a plurality of optical fields, each of the plurality of optical fields having a wavelength tuned based on an associated electrical signal; 
 receiving, at each of a plurality of input ports of an optical router, an optical field of the plurality of optical fields, the optical router further comprising a configurable number of output ports to output light from received at the plurality of input ports, each output port having a variable bandwidth that varies to output additional wavelengths of additional optical fields from the plurality of input ports; and 
 changing a number of the output ports by changing the variable bandwidth of the one or more output ports, the changed number of output ports being based on the tuned wavelengths of the plurality of optical fields received by the plurality of input ports. 
 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 detecting that each of the plurality of optical fields has a substantially same wavelength; and 
 configuring the number of output ports of the optical router such that each of the optical fields is output to a different output port. 
 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 17 , further comprising
 detecting that each of the plurality of optical fields has a substantially different wavelength; and 
 configuring the number of output ports of the optical router such that each of the optical fields is output to a single output port of the output ports, the variable bandwidth of the single output port being adjusted to output wavelengths of the optical fields. 
 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 17 , wherein each input port comprises an input ring resonator, wherein each output port comprises a plurality of output ring resonators, and wherein the variable bandwidth of each output port is adjustable by changing ring coupling of the plurality of output ring resonators to receive different bandwidths of light.